The cuts, mostly of back-office workers, amount to more than 10%
of Pershing Square Capital Management's staff, according to The
Journal.

The layoffs were unrelated to the hedge fund's recent poor
performance and instead were due to the firm's ability to
automate back-office tasks like filling out investor forms,
according to the report.

Pershing Square's publicly traded fund, which mimics the private
hedge fund, is
down 20.9% this year through June 21. The New York activist
firm in 2015 had its worst year ever, slumping 20%.

With performance declines, assets under management have also
dropped. The firm managed $20.2 billion at its peak last July, a
number that fell to about $12 billion in May.

Pershing Square's structure has helped the firm retain assets by
preventing a run on its reserves
during rough times. Outside investors can pull only one-eighth of
their capital every quarter, for example. And the firm's $4
billion closed-end fund is another source of permanent capital,
since investors have to sell their shares to redeem.